To me, Upstream Color seemed kinda hollow.. it's surrealism for surrealisms sake, a bit like the latest David Lynch movies, weird for weirds sake. It's almost an art film. I can really see where the director is coming from and what he's trying to do but I like to have at least some kind of plot. It was also in a way too "soft" for me, that's one of the reasons I didn't care for
Mr. Nobody either, even that I really wanted to like it.
UC has some great pretty cool cinematography too, and the bathroom scene (which is featured on the cover) was probably the most memorable one.
About
Enter The Void.. I'm kinda touchy about how the psychedelics are presented to the masses, it's already a pretty controversial subject.. although the movie makes a pretty good example how
not to do DMT and in what kind of surrounding. Yes, the visuals are
pretty fucking cool, but I disliked the way the substance is completely taken out of the spiritual context and that side of the of the experience. It portraits the trip WAY too dark. DMT isn't really like that.
Visually it's just super, super beautiful, a masterpiece even. The transitions, floating scenes.. unbelievable execution. It's a pretty long and heavy trip.
I know that the dark, nihilistic presentation is Noes' trademark.. there was an article about him where he told about his journeys to the Ayahuasca retreats in Peru and experiences with the
Curanderos.. so I find his nihilistic world view kinda strange and surprising.
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Reading this myself, I've come to the conclusion that the golden road lies somewhere between the ultra-harsh (sur)realism and the soft dream-like state that these movies both represent. Maybe these guys should get together
